


Nuts of Wisdom

by VioletDeep



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Bubbline, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, IT'S A FLASHBACK, Minor Character Death, Post-Finale, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 13:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15909174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletDeep/pseuds/VioletDeep
Summary: Marceline remembers an invaluable friend.





	Nuts of Wisdom

“It’s just…”  Marceline slipped her hand again into the bag of reddish-brown nuts, stuffing a fistful into her mouth and feeding on the color, then swallowing the nuts.  “I think I need some time away from her right now?”

 

The Duke of Nuts nodded, put down the pudding cup that Marceline had brought as a gift, and patted Marceline’s shoulder.  They sat on the sofa while the slow, warbly sound of an old record reverberated from the tree nut-shaped gramophone in the corner.  “You’ve been spending a lot of time together lately,” he observed in his high voice. It was as shaky as the record, but it was incredibly comforting, Marceline thought.  She felt grateful for that. She needed comfort right now.

 

Marceline brushed her salt-dusted hands off on her jeans, then went for another mouthful anyway.  “Well, yeah, we--” she swallowed, “we have, but it’s not that, or… it kind of is. She lets me hang around her all the time, but she doesn’t… care.”  Marcie felt the aching feeling in her chest get stronger. “I’m like, hey, Bonnie, wanna go to this concert or something, and she’s always like, sorry Marceline, but I’m busy that day, got stuff to do!”

 

The Duke gave her a small smile.  “Marceline, I’m sure the Princess appreciates the time you spend together.  If she didn’t, she wouldn’t let you hang around in the first place.”

 

“Well, yeah!  But it’s like that almost every day now.  So, I’m just…” Marcie sighed. “I’m just hanging around while she does stuff in her lab, or in the background while she talks to her subjects, or… and then she gets mad at me for getting in the way, and she tells me to leave!”  She growled in frustration, smushing her heartache further down into her chest. “She’s wasting my time!”

 

The Duke frowned a bit, and looked into Marceline’s eyes.  “Then why don’t you leave her?”

 

“I…” Marceline sighed.  She pictured Bonnibel’s soft, round, pretty pink face.  She pictured herself alone in her house, now not just bored, but bored and lonely.  She thought about how much she’d cry, and that feeling in her chest finally eked up into her throat, and she felt her lower lip tremble.  “I can’t.” She shut her eyes and mouth tight. “Can’t just leave her.”

 

“I know you love Princess Bubblegum, and it’s always hard ending things,” the Duke of Nuts said in that comforting voice, “but you’ve brought this situation up so many times before.  It doesn’t sound like a very good relationship to you. Besides... ending one thing can lead to so many new things beginning. They may be beautiful things, or ugly ones. But there will always be another beginning.”   
  
Marcie turned away from him, covering her face, quietly sobbing into her shirt.   
  
“Do you need a hug?” He asked.   
  
She nodded, and the Duke of Nuts gave Marceline, the Vampire Queen, the best hug she had ever had in her entire life.

 

* * *

 

 

After the burial, the attendees, all dressed in black, began trickling out of the cemetery.  Marcie remained at the gravestone for a few minutes, staring at it. Into it. Thinking and remembering, lost in thought.  Those meetings had become a regular thing. Just her, talking. Him, sometimes giving advice, but mostly just listening. She needed someone to talk to in those rough days.  

 

Her flashback was interrupted by a sweet, soft voice and a sweet, soft hand on her side.  “Hey, Marcie?” Bonnie was there. “You wanna come to lunch with me? There’s a post-funeral potluck thing.  Breakfast Princess brought those pecan rolls you like the texture of, even though I know you can’t really eat…” she trailed off.  “You okay, girl?”

 

“Yeah, Bonnie.  I’m okay.” Old feelings were working their way through her guts like acid.  “Could you just, leave me alone for once--” She caught herself. She wasn’t back 20 years ago, she was here, at a funeral, with her girlfriend.  Girlfriend… she savored the word in her mind and smiled. “Sorry, I just need a few minutes alone right now. I’ll catch up with you, though.”

 

Bonnie smiled, and hugged her girlfriend, and gave her a peck on the cheek.  “Take your time, rock star.” And then she left.

 

Marceline turned back towards the gravestone.  The cemetery was quiet, and a soft breeze rustled her hair. The sky was so blue today... She thought about how things had gone since her and Bonnie had gotten back together, and couldn’t help but let out a little laugh. “Thanks for all the help, dude.  I guess you were right, kinda.” She took the pudding cup, the best-looking one she could find in the whole of Ooo, out of her bag and put it on the freshly-packed earth.

 

“There’s always another beginning.”

 

Marceline, the Vampire Queen, gave the Duke of Nuts her last goodbyes, then got up from the grassy earth to go eat some pecan rolls with the woman she loved.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the episode Henchman, where the Duke and Marcie are shown to be on pretty good terms, but it's never really explained how they got to know each other. So I figured, the Duke of Nuts is a really calm and nice dude who Princess Bubblegum doesn't like-- of course Marceline would try and hang out with him if she was having relationship troubles. So, I just kind of spat this out onto the page. It's unpolished but I like it.
> 
> Anyway, we last see the Duke of Nuts unconscious or dead on the ground during the fight with GOLB. Maybe this is right after the Finale, maybe this is years and years in the future. Who knows! 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading.


End file.
